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Buzz Williams on the departing seniors

Davante Gardner, Chris Otule, Jake Thomas and Jamil Wilson will play their final home game Saturday when the Golden Eagles take on St. John's.

In his usual conversational style, here's what Buzz Williams had to say about them:

"The only person I’ve talked to about it is my wife, and that’s because she understands how weird I am. I would tell you Chris is more mature about it than I am. I’m really grateful for the lessons Chris has taught me as a person and as a coach. Jake’s done a lot of that, too.

"I remember Davante’s official visit more than anyone’s. We signed Jae (Crowder) without a visit. We signed DJO without a visit. We signed Jimmy Butler without a visit. I got to the point where I didn’t want to sign somebody who felt like they had to be massaged and coddled during a visit.

"I remember Davante coming for a visit and Coach (Lewis) Orr who was my junior-college coach and basically lives with me for half the year. We went out to the house for a meal and (Gardner) grazed everything that was in sight. And we were coming back to the office and Coach Orr said, 'Buzzy, I don’t tell you what to do, I’m just here to support you, but I don’t know if I’d ever sign somebody who eats as much as he does.'

"And my relationship with Davante’s mom and dad is on par with what my relationship was like with Junior (Cadougan’s) mom.I think Homer (True) has always made fun of me because if you don’t know my relationship with Davante you’d think I was, what’s the word, disparaging him. But that’s my boy. We call him 'Avante' because he doesn’t have any D. But he’s still my guy and he knows that.

"I remember recruiting Jamil and doing a home visit. It was the first home visit I did as the head coach at Marquette. I love Jami’s dad a lot. We went to see Jamil at school and followed it up that evening with a home visit. We were behind from the get-go on a top-50 player coming out of high school."

Wilson chose Oregon but left after his freshman year to sign with Marquette.

"I never thought we were going to get him, and I think we’ve done a good job since we’ve been here on recruiting Wisconsin’s best," Williams said. "And it’s continued to get better and more of them. But Jamil’s dad called as we were driving back from Racine. And I remember when he came back and he and his dad walking into my office and said, ‘Coach, we want to come.’ And that’s how his recruiting story went. And as talented as Jamil is, I think he’s grown as much as those other kids.

"We’ve ridden those kids as much as we can and we’re going to ride them some more until it’s over."

About Michael Hunt

Michael Hunt is a former sports columnist and reporter for the Journal Sentinel.